Mr Burnham said: 'This will be the biggest Olympics yet and the GB team goes into it better prepared than ever before. Australia are saying Britain are the ones to watch.

'Other countries and old rivals like Australia now look to us as a country that got serious about sport and are saying they are in danger of falling behind team GB in the medal table. We are about to enter a glorious new era for British sport and I hope success in Beijing will inspire the next generation of young sports stars.'

He claimed that Britain had its best chance for Olympic glory thanks to funding for elite sport tripling to a record £265million between the last Games in Athens and Beijing.

Winner: Christine Ohuruogu is a world champion at 400 metres

In Athens, just 500 athletes received public funding in the run-up to the Games, but in comparison 1,400 athletes competing in Beijing have benefited from aid programmes.

UK Sport, the government agency in charge of elite sport, has set a target of between 35 and 41 medals, and eighth place overall in the medals table.

But sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe said it was 'vital' that Britain gain 41 medals to justify the huge investment in elite sports.

He said: 'That is a serious target. We want it to be achieved.'

He told BBC Radio 5 Live: 'It's vital in the sense of the investment that's gone in.

'There's been massive investment in professional elite sport, the opportunity for athletes to concentrate on their sport and do really well.

'These are very tough contracts between UK Sport and the individuals concerned. <p>'We'll evaluate immediately after Beijing what the success has been.'

The former head of the Italian Olympic Committee, Luciano Barra, who forecasts the Olympic medal table using the results of recent world championships in each sport, has predicted that Britain could take home up to 48 medals in total.

He claims the U.S. will be at the top of the medal table with 49 gold, ahead of China on 38, Russia with 32 and Britain with 18.

But Colin Moynihan, chairman of the British Olympic Association, has played down expectations of the biggest medal haul since the Antwerp Summer Olympics in 1920 when Britain took 43.

'We are confident we will move forward from tenth but it would be unwise to speculate how close we will get to fourth,' he said.

'What we can say is that compared to previous Games, we have a team that is better prepared, better resourced and better financed than before.'